When was the first time Rand actually channeled?

[Jambo]

Okay so we all know that when someone with the spark first channels they get "sick". We know this happened to Nynaeve after she healed someone who was supposed to die, and it happened to Rand after he blew up the room him and Mat were in at some inn when they were on the run. What confuses me is at one point Rand is talking with Moiraine and she mentions she had an inkling he could channel because when they were fleeing the Two Rivers in tEotW she took away the horses weariness but Bela for some reason didnt need it. After reading the EotW again the description from that section (ice cold, marrow boiling ect.)sounded an awful lot like Rand did in fact channel, so why didn't he get the "sick" until much later??

[RAND AL THOR]

Interesting question. Perhaps, in the case of men, you don't immediately get sick?

[Majsju]

The first time you channel, the sickness comes quite some time afterwards, then the gap grows smaller every time you channel until the sickness comes immidiously after channeling.

[a5m]

Rand first touched the source the night he left Edmonds Field. That night, he gave strength to Bela. The first reaction to that was a week later in when walking around Baerlon from just before he encountered the White Cloaks. His second touching was the night he boarded the Spray and he prevented the Trolloc from killing him. (He noted that he had used up the rest of his "luck" with that one.) About 4 days later he had a reaction that caused him to climb the main mast, eventually sit up there without holding on and then sliding down the rigging. The time at the Four Kings was the third time he touched the source and the reaction was sickness this time occurring two or three days later.

[RAND AL THOR]

The first time you channel, the sickness comes quite some time afterwards, then the gap grows smaller every time you channel until the sickness comes immidiously after channeling.

 

Really?

I thought you only get sick once when you start to channel.

 

So how many times does a channeler get sick when he begins channeling?

[Corbett]

The channeler continues to get sick until the sickness and the touching of the source conincide with one another. And this only happens to wilders who dont know that they are touching the source. Those in both of the towers are guided to their first ouching so they dont have this problem.

[Darkholme]

Well, I just finished listening to TEoTW and something that always bugged me was the headache that Rand had when in Baerlon. I had always assumed that it was just from lack of sleep after his first dream of Ishamael but I'm beginning to wonder if it was the sickness after he channeled to refresh Bela. It was a week later that they were in Baerlon after all and the timing fits.

[Safia al-Maaz]

What confused me when I first started the series was I thought that the sickness had to be an actual illness, which fit into some of the instances for Rand but not for all, like when he goes a tad crazy in Baerlon with the Children and then again on Domon's ship.  I don't remember but did that accompany any actual physical illness?

[DemandredFO]

I think the Doman ship sickness was him feeling nothing climbing to the top of the mast or watever and then sliding down.

[Generic Aelfinn #2]

rand got PHYSICALLY SICK(as opposed to acting 'loony') after channeling lightning to blow apart the basement wall in the four kings(?) and had to stay in the barn where the female DF tried to kill him and mat.

[trakand_01]

I always likened the 'sickness' to be somewhat akin to drunkenness - i.e. directly related to the amount he'd channeled.

 

For example, if you just have a couple of drinks, you might feel a bit light-headed and dizzy (Baerlon) but with a few more you might be sick (4Kings / Lady Shaien).

 

Then as you get to control the power (get more accustomed to drinking) you can channel larger and larger amounts before you start to get sick.

 

Of course in Rand's case he ends up where every time he siezes Saidin, he gets sick.

 

Did he get sick when they were fighting the Aiel, when he and aviendha and egwene were atop the tower before it fell? The girls noted that they were taking it in turns, yet he was doing it all alone - surely he channeled vast amounts?

[Generic Aelfinn #2]

his current sickness is solely a result of the moridin-balefire link.  it has nothing to do with channeling 'too much' saidin.

[Dakeyras]

Then as you get to control the power (get more accustomed to drinking) you can channel larger and larger amounts before you start to get sick.

 

Of course in Rand's case he ends up where every time he siezes Saidin, he gets sick.

 

Did he get sick when they were fighting the Aiel, when he and aviendha and egwene were atop the tower before it fell? The girls noted that they were taking it in turns, yet he was doing it all alone - surely he channeled vast amounts?

 

By the time Rand fought the Aiel in Cairhien he had already "mastered" channeling. The sickness is the result of wilders learning to touch and channel the True Source unguided. Eventually you beat the sickness and can channel without getting sick. Otherwise Rand would be on his death bed after the cleansing ;)

 

As Generic Aelfinn #2 said, his current sickness is a result of the crossed balefire streams.

[DemandredFO]

I wish Egon had told him not to cross the streams

[RAND AL THOR]

People are getting confused with Rand's initial sickness from touching the Source, and the effects of the taint, and the effects of balefire crossing with Moridin.

 

 

 

I wish Egon had told him not to cross the streams

 

Who's Egon?

[DemandredFO]

From Ghostbusters

[RAND AL THOR]

From Ghostbusters

 

AHhhh I c

I thought it was someone from WoT.......

[42Bonzo88]

    I don't know if this will help or not, but I think of Rand's 'sickness' like my seizures. I started having seizures when I was a teenager (I didn't find out what they were until I was almost 30). The seizures I had were small and since I didn't know what they were, I put them off like I was feeling dizzy or lightheaded. Then the seizures started to get stronger and usually before one would hit, I would get deja-vu. After those, I would be sick and after a couple hours be fine again.

 

Hope this helps